FCPS making bus stop changes without conducting survey (how much, middle school)

[novajs]

Apparently this year fcps rearranged bus stops county wide. The goal was to improve "efficiency". But it appears that the county didn't conduct any sort of survey or interview to make changes to existing stops that have been serving students perfectly. They only looked at maps and made changes they thought improving efficency. The number of stops remained the same but the heavily used stop was removed.

I assume the original plan was put in place for a good reason. I don't understand why the county spent money doing a study and making a change to the existing route without compelling reasons. I can understand if the county wants to save money, they could cut the number of routes. But for a existing route, keeping the same number of stops but removing and adding stops seems a waste of money and time.

[CaliTerp07]

Could it partially have to do with blocking traffic? I don't know anything about the reasoning for the change, but it seems like sometimes the buses stop on main roads and block traffic flow during rush hour quite a bit. If moving those stops around the corner to a side street was an option, I would think that was a good idea.

Again though, I don't know what kind of changes you're talking about.

[OrangeFish]

I think a great deal of it is due to the traffic. My DC's bus stop hasn't changed, but the pick-up time has ranged from as late as 8:50 am on the first day of school and today we were told they are trying an 8:15 am pick-up tomorrow.

I suggest phoning FCPS Transportation if you have questions.

[novajs]

I was given the impression that there is a county wide change this year by the bus coordinator I talked to. The bus coordinator for my cluster told me that it was done for "efficiency" and they contracted out the work, which didn't involve demographics on the stops being changed but merely an excercise on a map. Since the work was outsourced, the coordinator is not in position to make any corrections to the new change. In my case, it has nothing to do with safety. They removed one stop on a main road and added another on on the same main road. I don't see any benefit of this sort of engineering without addressing any specific problems.

[newgatedenizen]

Well, I know one thing FCPS did was to play it by the book this year with walkers. They eliminated at least 2 buses at our middle school by doing this. For 7th-8th grades if you are within 1.5 miles that's considered walking distance. We're 1.35 miles and our bus route was eliminated.

While I think this is a great way to save money and get kids some exercise, it is a little concerning to see groups of 7th and 8th graders cross 4 lanes of traffic on Stone Road during rush hour without a crossing guard.

[novajs]

Originally Posted by newgatedenizen

Well, I know one thing FCPS did was to play it by the book this year with walkers. They eliminated at least 2 buses at our middle school by doing this. For 7th-8th grades if you are within 1.5 miles that's considered walking distance. We're 1.35 miles and our bus route was eliminated.

While I think this is a great way to save money and get kids some exercise, it is a little concerning to see groups of 7th and 8th graders cross 4 lanes of traffic on Stone Road during rush hour without a crossing guard.

I guess I should feel lucky that we still have our route and the new stop for us is only a short walk away. In our case, it didn't save the county any money but only add inconvenience to kids and parents. I asked the bus coordinator what the reason was to make change to an existing stop that has been working well but she kicked the question back asking what my reason is for adding the stop back. She reminded me several times that by law the kids are allowed to walk one mile.

I don't know how much money the county spent on this sort of "efficiency" study. I am sure that money could be better spent on saving a few routes. These routes are there for a reason in the first place.

[Denton56]

Originally Posted by novajs

I was given the impression that there is a county wide change this year by the bus coordinator I talked to. The bus coordinator for my cluster told me that it was done for "efficiency" and they contracted out the work, which didn't involve demographics on the stops being changed but merely an excercise on a map. Since the work was outsourced, the coordinator is not in position to make any corrections to the new change. In my case, it has nothing to do with safety. They removed one stop on a main road and added another on on the same main road. I don't see any benefit of this sort of engineering without addressing any specific problems.

I love it! They hire someone to do the work, why? Because they don't have enough people working in transportation to do this work? Now they have hired someone else so they can maintain they have nothing to do with anything that happens! And the school system has NO authority to change anything in THEIR system?! That is TOO funny! If this is true that the department of transportation has no say in how things work, what do we need them for? Fire them, they can't do anything!

[novajs]

Originally Posted by Denton56

I love it! They hire someone to do the work, why? Because they don't have enough people working in transportation to do this work? Now they have hired someone else so they can maintain they have nothing to do with anything that happens! And the school system has NO authority to change anything in THEIR system?! That is TOO funny! If this is true that the department of transportation has no say in how things work, what do we need them for? Fire them, they can't do anything!

I was shocked to learn that too. The transportation outsourced the work of rearranging bus routes in the name of saving county money, and they have no authority to make correction about transportation. They answer their phones from 10 - 1:30, so maybe they are only part time?